Raikkonen matches Hakkinen’s race win tally

Kimi Raikkonen’s 20th career victory ties him with Mika Hakkinen as the second most successful Finnish F1 driver of all time in terms of race victories.

Raikkonen began his F1 career in 2001, the year Hakkinen retired from the sport. He previously won the Australian Grand Prix in 2007, and on that occasion Fernando Alonso also finished second. However Sebastian Vettel, third in yesterday’s race, was still three months away from making his F1 debut.

Raikkonen won from seventh on the grid in car number seven. It was only the 21st time a race has been won from that position, yet Raikkonen has done it three times now.

He scored his maiden win from seventh in Malaysia in 2003, and did it again in Canada in 2005. The only other time it’s been done since then was also at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, by Jenson Button in 2011.

This was the first time a Lotus car had won the first race of a season since 1978. On that occasion Mario Andretti won the Argentinian Grand Prix in Buenos Aires in a Lotus 78, going on to win the drivers’ championship in the year Lotus won their last constructors’ title.

The identity of the team which won the opening round of the season has changed every year since 2006. And a different constructor has won each of the last five races:

Raikkonen also added the 38th fastest lap of his career, meaning he is now just three behind Alain Prost who has the second-highest count. And with his next one he’ll be past halfway to Michael Schumacher’s record tally of 77.

It was also the youngest field ever assembled for a Grand Prix, with an average age of 27 years and 61 days. The youngest was Esteban Gutierrez (21 years, 230 days) and Mark Webber is now the grid’s eldest driver, aged 36 years and 211 days yesterday.

Jenson Button never looked likely to score a fourth victory in Australia which would have put him level with Michael Schumacher as the most successful driver in this race.

But his ninth place finish did move him past the milestone of 1,000 points, which only Schumacher, Alonso and Vettel have managed. It’s a rather meaningless tally, however – F1 has used three different points systems since Button’s career began and several more before that.

Only once in F1 history have more drivers led a race than the seven who took turns at the head of the field on Sunday. That was the famed 1971 Italian Grand Prix, which ended with five drivers crossing the line covered by 0.61s.

Among yesterday’s leaders was Adrian Sutil, who led a race for the first time on his F1 comeback. This was the fourth race led by Force India, and the first time they have led two in a row.

On each occasion the race was led by a different driver: Giancarlo Fisichella (Spa 2009), Paul di Resta (Bahrain 2012) and Nico Hulkenberg (Interlagos 2012).

Hulkenberg’s first appearance for new team Sauber did not go well as he failed to make the start due to a fuel pressure problem. In three appearances at Albert Park he is yet to complete a racing lap, having been involved in first-lap collisions in 2010 and 2012.

Finally, five drivers made their debut in yesterday’s race, which was the most since the Bahrain Grand Prix three years ago. Hulkenberg made his first start in that race and is still part of the F1 field, but Vitaly Petrov, Lucas di Grassi, Bruno Senna and Karun Chandhok have all been and gone.

Spotted any other interesting stats and facts from the Australian Grand Prix? Share them in the comments.

123 comments on “Raikkonen matches Hakkinen’s race win tally”

– The average age of the Australian GP was 27 years, 2 months and 20 days, meaning itâ€™s the youngest starting field in history. Previously the record was held by the 1997 French GP, which was mainly due to the absence of Gerhard Berger and debuts of Fontana and Marques.

– Kimi Raikkonen gave start number â€˜7â€™ its 27th victory. The last driver to win with the number â€˜7â€™ was Jarno Trulli at the 2004 Monaco GP.

– Fernando Alonso has already secured his streak of eleven consecutive years with at least one podium that started at the 2003 Malaysian GP, equalling Alain Prost. The record is held by Michael Schumacher with 15 consecutive podium years between 1992 and 2006. Mansell and Berger are in-between Schumacher and Alonso with 12 consecutive years.

– Australian drivers have had 90 podiums and 28 home Grands Prix, but yet again the Australian drivers failed to finish on the podium at the Australian GP, meaning they wonâ€™t be added to the list of 16 nations that have had a home driver on the podium during a GP that counted towards the world championship.

– The podium was a copy of last yearâ€™s Abu Dhabi GP, just three race ago. The last time identical podiums occurred that â€˜shortlyâ€™ after each other was in 2010: VET WEB ALO occurred at the Brazilian GP just two races after the Japanese GP.

– Adrian Sutil led the first eleven laps of his Formula 1 career. The last time a driver, who hadnâ€™t driven in F1 for at least a year, led a GP was in 2007: at the European GP, Markus Winkelhock led the race in his first (and only) GP. Sutil also scored his 100th point for Force India.

– On lap 13, Rosberg led the GP from Sutil and Vettel, which means that three Germans led the Grand Prix. I do not have the tools to figure this out, but does anybody know when was the last time something like this happened??

– Four French, British and German drivers started the race. For France, this was the highest number of entrants since the 1995 Pacific GP: Panis, Alesi, Gachot and Boullion. This is the first time in history that all three countries had at least four drivers starting the race!

– McLaren scored 2 points â€“ not a great result, but it means they continue their record-breaking streak of 59 consecutive races in the points that started at the 2010 Bahrain GP. Two points was also their worst result since that 2010 Bahrain GP. For Button however it was enough to break the 1000-point barrier: he now has 1001 points.

– Amazing coincidence: for the third consecutive year, start numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 14 and 15 have all picked up points in Melbourne!

– Pastor Maldonado retired for the 15th time in 40 Grands Prix. He now has the highest retirements percentage (37.5%) of all drivers on the grid, having passed Romain Grosjean (37.0%).

@andae23 Great contributions as always but can I ask how you reached a figure of 27 years, 2 months and 20 days for the average age of the drivers? And how long is your ‘month’ given they can be 28, 29, 30 or 31 days long?

”- McLaren scored 2 points â€“ not a great result, but it means they continue their record-breaking streak of 59 consecutive races in the points that started at the 2010 Bahrain GP. Two points was also their worst result since that 2010 Bahrain GP.”
– Actually their worst result during that period is just 1 point at the Korean GP last year.

@sato113 – I think it was meant as if to say he hadn’t led any up until the point at which he led 11 laps during the 2013 race, but I don’t know if he’s ever lead any before then so I can’t comment on it’s accuracy!

– Four French, British and German drivers started the race. For France, this was the highest number of entrants since the 1995 Pacific GP: Panis, Alesi, Gachot and Boullion. This is the first time in history that all three countries had at least four drivers starting the race!

no doubt at the expense of the italians. when is the last time , if ever, the 4 countries had 3 or more drivers each?

Stats like those are becoming less impressive with the calendar being much longer these days. It’s what I still maintain Mansel has the true record for most poles in a season 15 in 16 races I think, whereas Vettel did 15 in 19. Not so impressive (Still obviously a mamoth achievement though).

What a beautiful looking McLaren Hakkinen is driving there. They have really stopped making them like that. Those days they were driving beauty pageants, now they drive a duck billed platypus.
Was that a V12 engine back then?

There were 53 pit-stops completed in this race for tyre changes, the most since the 2012 Singapore Grand Prix on 56 (discounting wet races) despite the fact that there were three fewer starters of this race. Pirelli’s more aggressive approach is obviously working then – whether it is to the benefit of the racing or not though is a matter of opinion!

somewhat unrelated, i saw a post race interview with Ciaran Pilbeam( Mark Webber’s former engineer and now lotus head of strategy or something), and i noticed he really really resembles Adrian Newey, he looks like a young version of him and actually talks and has the same body language as him. any chance their related ? or is it just coincidence ?

Haha. Wow I really thought that I was the only one that noticed that. I don’t think their related but he definitely resembles the Master, and if Sunday is anything to go by than he seems as capable at strategy as Newey at design, which bodes well for Lotus since their strategies were abysmal last year.

@mnm101 I thought the same too. @brny666 I agree with you. I don’t think it’s a mere coincidence that Enstone got their strategy spot on with him at the helm. But, they also had the car which could accommodate the superior strategy. But, the real test of him capabilities would come later in races with variable weather conditions.

Kimi and Fernando are the only drivers to be on the podium in Melbourne with 3 different teams ,Kimi with Mclaren Ferrari and Lotus ,Fernando with Renault Mclaren and Ferrari
Melbourne is one of 3 circuits on the calendar that Fernando failed to score a podium with Ferrari,the other 2 are Shanghai and Spa
Nico Roseberg failed to finish in points for 7 races in a row which is his worst result since 2006 when he failed to finish in points for 13 consecutive race
Jenson Button has scored 1001 pts in F1 which make him 4th of all time after Shumacher, Alonso and Vettel

Jenson Button has scored 1001 pts in F1 which make him 4th of all time after Shumacher, Alonso and Vettel

I think that makes Schumacher’s achievements all the more remarkable – despite the fact he has three fairly lacklustre seasons in 2010-12 with the new system (unlike say Vettel) he still managed to break the 1000 point barrier. It just highlights his consistent prolonged performance!

Every time the guys from Enstone win the opening round, it seems they go on to win the drivers’ title…
1994 – Michael Schumacher (Benetton) beat Senna in Brazil
1995 – Schumacher won again in Brazil, apparently (don’t remember this one at all)
2005 – The other wet Melbourne qualifying session. Fisichella grabbed pole and won the race, and Alonso became champion in the other Renault.
2006 – Alonso won, and went on to defend his title.
2013 – Raikkonen won the opener and… save me a space in the place to gloat.

The win was oddly reminiscent of the 2012 Chinese Grand Prix. Very cold, and the only car to competitively make a 2-stop work, while the others did a 3-stop. The 3-stoppers got stuck in traffic at different stages of the race as the lone 2-stopper was able to go unchallenged, with the 2nd-best 2-stopper falling through the field in the final stint as his tyres were shot (Vettel in China, Sutil here)